Jakarta (ANTARA) – President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) lauded the efforts made by Indonesia’s Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) for pursuing the public to participate in COVID-19 vaccination.
“Thank you to Nahdlatul Ulama for inviting the public to comply with health protocols and receive COVID-19 vaccination,” Jokowi stated while opening the 34th NU Congress in Gunung Sugih, Central Lampung District, Wednesday.
First Lady Iriana Jokowi, Vice President and adviser of the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU) Ma’ruf Amin and spouse Wury Ma’ruf Amin, General Chairperson of PBNU Saiq Aqil Siradj, former vice president Jusuf Kalla, cabinet ministers, and other PBNU officials also attended the opening of the 34th NU Congress.
“The efforts made by kiai and ulemas in pursuing vaccination is really helpful for the community,” Jokowi emphasized. The head of state later noted that at the onset of the vaccination program, several people had refused to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“In the early days of the vaccination program, many people refused to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, although we had a huge stock of AstraZeneca at that time. The kiai (Islamic religious leader) from East Java later called me and requested the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine to his region. Later on, several of them gathered to be injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Jokowi remarked.
Thereafter, Jokowi noted that several regions began participating in the COVID-19 vaccination program.
“This occurred because of the influence of ulemas and kiai in inviting the public to participate in vaccinations,” Jokowi stated.
The head of state also thanked NU for the role of assisting the government in allaying the concerns of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The president also drew attention to the government’s achievements in terms of the vaccination coverage. Until Wednesday, some 263 million people had received the COVID-19 vaccination.
“If you can imagine, injecting 263 million people is a very complicated task. We must bring vaccine to very challenging places, such as to the mountains and to the islands by boat or motorcycle while carrying vaccine coolers,” he remarked.
Jokowi noted that currently, 73.9 percent of the community had received the first dose of vaccination and 51.8 percent had been administered the second dose out of the target of 70 percent of the community to be fully vaccinated.
“Earlier, we had started vaccination for children aged six to 11. Almost one million doses have been injected. However, we still had to be careful since the new variant called Omicron had emerged,” he stated.
The president noted that 83 thousand cases of Omicron were recorded in the world, including in Indonesia.
“Hence, once again, I really laud the health protocols by the task force in this congress, and God willing, we will all return to our respective regions in good health,” he said. – ANTARA
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